An academic study into the life and literature of C.S Lewis.

Poet

This weeks post will focus on the unique timing of the publishing of The Problem of Pain.

– Both critics and audiences praised The Problem of Pain for its highly intellectual and accessible approach to morality. As Alister McGrath writes in his biography of Lewis: “Many readers found a voice that was sympathetic to their concerns and reassuring in its responses… It won Lewis many admirers, but did not make Lewis famous… It proved to be a critical link in the chain that soon led to the emergence of that fame.”In effect, Lewis had created a work that transcended class distinctions, and, in doing so, he accomplished what few modern authors had been able to in the last two decades. Upon its release in October of 1940, The Problem of Pain became an immediate best seller, and set into motion Lewis’ wartime fame.

A key theme in Lewis’ life was his highly unintentional sense of timing.Had he resolved to write a book like The Problem of Pain even a few years before the war, it would have, like Lewis himself, most likely gone unnoticed. For one, Lewis had only recently become a Christian prior to the outbreak of the war, and he would have never entertained the idea of writing a book about Christian theology. Furthermore, Christianity and the church were struggling to remain relevant in the lives of the modern Englishman; so, any attempt at a national conversation revolving around theology or morality would have largely fallen on deaf ears. Yet the war had rekindled an interest in the topic of morality, and Lewis, therefore, was afforded the perfect opportunity. In the calm years preceding the war, Lewis quietly added to his understanding of faith, and age and maturity had refined his writing skills. When the call was given for an individual to answer the nation’s spiritual needs, Jack Lewis emerged as an unlikely and reluctant hero.

This week I am going to focus a bit on Lewis’ writing trajectory from epic prose to theology. The Second World War was a critical point in time in his life, and in many ways kick started his career as the author we now know him as.

Part 2.

Three years after Spirits in Bondage, Lewis tried his hand at publishing again, but this time sticking strictly within the confines of academic work. The Allegory of Love confirmed Lewis’ insight as an intellectual figure, as well as earned him plenty of critical acclaim. One critic, G.L Brooks, stated that The Allegory was “undoubtedly one of the best books on mediaeval literature ever published in this country, and every page revealed in the author an unusual degree of scholarship and critical insight.”It seemed assured that Lewis’ destiny lay strictly in academic publishing. However, it was also around this time that Lewis began to distinguish himself from his peers with his unique literary voice. Unlike most of his colleagues, Lewis demonstrated a willingness to oppose the popular trends taking root in the academy during the interwar years. In his 1936 observations of the Oxford Don’s work, William Empson noted an adherence to traditionalism in Lewis’ critical evaluation and observed his general resistance to the trends of progressivism. While The Allegory of Love proved that Lewis possessed a prodigious literary skill set, it also suggested that he might be capable of producing a work that would set him aside from the other scholars and critics of the mid-twentieth century. Though Lewis had failed in the category of prose fiction, he was astoundingly successful with his academic publications. The Allegory of Love had at least proven one thing: given the right circumstances, Lewis was capable of producing a masterpiece.

The 1940 publication of The Problem of Pain marked a turning point in Lewis’ career as it signalled a change in his approach to bridging the gap between his academic work and the common market. England’s 1939 declaration of war against Germany had plunged the continent back into another conflict, and people were struggling to find meaning in the face of even more senseless slaughter.Lewis was commissioned to write a theological response to the war. He was given the mandate that his work address the spiritual and moral needs of the average layman. Accepting the challenge, Lewis abandoned the stuffy liturgical approach to theological writing and instead opted for a blend of casual vernacular mixed with highly imaginative illustrations to convey his points.Lewis chose to engage his audience by embracing a more progressive and informal style of writing while also adapting it to preserve his conservative viewpoints. What Lewis could not have anticipated, however, was the impact that The Problem of Pain would have on his life.

Well folks, here it is! Every Monday I will begin posting a section of some of my summarized research, as well as listing off some of the readings that I have been perusing as I have developed my work! Let me know in the comments, or Twitter what you think so far, or if you have any questions! Feel free to join the conversation via either Twitter (@ReepTheMouse) or in the comments below!

A Study of the Impact of Media in C.S Lewis’ Career.

By 1947, Clive Staples Lewis, or Jack as he preferred, had solidified his reputation as an internationally recognized author, theologian, and media personality. Yet, in this regard, Lewis’ life remains paradoxical.As a self-proclaimed ideological dinosaur, Jack held views that were becoming increasingly out of sync with the rapid modernization occurring in England at that time.The cover of TIME magazine in 1947 depicted Lewis as a man who could popularize “medieval scholasticism with such a comfortable modern dress” while in the same breath decry strict scientific rationalization as chief among modern day heresies. His staunch defence of traditionalism, combined with his stubborn resistance to change, left him out of place and ostracized among many of his more progressive peers and colleagues. However, despite his reputation of being stodgy and outdated, Lewis became a media sensation by utilizing remarkably non-traditional venues. For all of Lewis’ objections to progressive trends, he could not have anticipated the degree to which new media forms would propel his career into the international spotlight. To this end, the focus of this paper will be to explore how Lewis—a deeply conservative individual—appropriated progressive mediums to establish himself in a modernizing world.

At the start of the 1930’s, Lewis was by all accounts a relatively obscure public intellectual. Raised in the Classical literary traditions, his aspirations fuelled a desire to produce Britain’s next Romantic masterpiece in the same fashion as Milton or Spencer. Yet, Lewis was still a young author who dreamt of championing the waning classical genre. However, this was already an ambitious venture given the shifts taking place within Oxford and Cambridge at this time, which saw more contemporary works gaining favour in literary departments. His first attempt came in the form of a collection of poems entitled Spirits in Bondage. Spirits was an anthological approach at creating a narrative of Lewis’ personal experiences on the battlefield in France during the First World War. However, this work found itself among the hundreds of similarly themed books produced in this era, and had to compete against texts that had already garnered significant fame in this market already. His second attempt at publication came five years later. In 1926, Lewis published his epic narrative, Dymer, under the assumed name of Clive Hamilton. Dymer was by all accounts one of Lewis’ earliest professional works and was noted by critics as being both completely inaccessible and incomprehensible. His slim hope of sparking interest in this genre was completely crushed by a penchant for favouring obscure academic paradigms in both his poetic form and technical prose. Simply put, his style of writing was out of date in a modernizing world and failed to find traction in the established popular literary markets.

Well friends, welcome back! It has been a while since I last wiped the dust off the idea of this blog series. Between studies, life, studies, near death experiences and more studies – I found myself a little preoccupied these last couple months. However, copious amounts of time not being able to walk means that I have been a rather productive reader of late. A broken knee will do that to a man. Though having free time has had some other unintentional benefits, like getting to catch up with friends. It was through some of these conversations that I began getting requests from fellow students and faculty members at the University to read and present on some of my work with Lewis. I was reminded of what I had originally wanted to start with this blog page, and well? Here we are again. Over the course of the next few weeks, I will be revisiting some of my research and posting it on this page for you to enjoy. Feel free to tell me what you think, or if there are topics about Lewis you would like me to discuss.

Also! I am going live. By which I mean I will be working with friends at the University to carry these conversations through Twitter and some local events ( C.S Lewis pub night anyone? Coming soon….). Feel free to follow me on twitter at @ReepTheMouse and keep checking back here for new posts every Monday!

“No book is really worth reading at the age of ten which is not equally – and often far more – worth reading at the age of fifty and beyond.”
― C.S Lewis

Welcome Friends.

The intent of this blog is to create a community of C.S Lewis scholars, and will function to incubate a central hub of Lewis based discourse. Whether you have studied Lewis seriously, perused his writings casually, or have simply found yourself captivated by his popular work, my hope is that you will each find something of interest and value. While the primary aim of this blog is to drive deeper into Lewis’s life as a scholar, it will by necessity encompass both his academic and non academic writings. My hope in embarking on such a journey is to bring together a network of academic and non academic research to challenge and drive my own studies concerning his life. My goal is not to write or define Lewis’s place in history – he has done that well enough on his own merits – but simply to merge a synthetic comprehension of his spheres of influence; creating a narrative which combines an understanding of Lewis as the author, the scholar, the apologist, the radio broadcaster, the Christian, and ultimately as one of Britain’s most popular writers of the 20th century.

My own areas of interest and study in Lewis scholarship specifically rests in his reception in the academic spheres at the height of his popularity, while examining the evolution of both scholarly and public opinions of his work in the early 21st century. However, as this is only an introductory posting, I will delay in adding anything further to this particular strain of thought.

So for now, I bid you a very warm welcome. I am very excited by possibility this page represents, and hope that it produces new insights into the life and writings of C.S Lewis. Feel free to follow this page & we shall see where this adventure takes us.